Page 100 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

“You’re leaning to the left again,” Samara murmured to Alaric. He really was a terrible rider, and after his horse had run away with him the other night, he was even more nervous around them. Samara helped him center his weight again before focusing on Nyx once more. “The wraiths are still in the temple. They haven’t left.”

“Is she sure they’re still there?” Nyx frowned.

“Yeah,” she said uncomfortably. “She can feel them.”

My eyebrows crept up. “How far inside the temple are they?”

Samara didn’t look at me when she answered, but I saw the strain running through her body. Something about Cali’s abilities bothered her. “I’m not sure,” she said evenly.

Furies were the most sensitive to wraiths and shadow magic, but they usually had to be fairly close to feel them. Calihad been perched on top of a mesa, and the temple was far below. They should have been too far out of her range to sense.

Unease ran through me. I didn’t like Samara, but I respected both of her friends. Rynn was smart as hell and would be a huge asset to the Alpha Pack if they could ever figure their shit out, and Cali was an incredible warrior who had saved some of my rangers’ asses on more than one occasion.

Most Furies eventually gave into the rage they all carried inside of them and had to be put down, and killing a Furie who had lost themself was no easy feat.

The current generation seemed to be doing the best. They had strict rules in place to keep themselves level.

But Cali had never followed the rules.

She’d seemed fine every time I met her, but now that I thought about it… when was the last time I’d seen her in person? The idea of fighting any Furie made me nervous.

For one, they were our allies. Fighting one of them was similar to fighting a Moroi who had given into bloodlust and become a Strigoi. You weren’t fighting some random monster, you were fighting one of your own, and that was not something I ever enjoyed. The last time I’d had to take down a rogue Furie, I’d brought twenty rangers with me and less than half of us walked away from that encounter.

Cali was the most powerful Furie in existence, possibly ever. Between that and the wild cards that were Samara and Rynn, it would be better for everyone if she stayed sane.

A shadow passed over us, causing the horses to skitter to the side. A few seconds later, Cali landed in front of us with silent wings.

In a heartbeat, Samara threw her leg over her horse’s neck and practically leapt out of the saddle, leaving poor Alaric to slide forward while frantically grabbing the reins. The Furiegrunted as Samara threw herself at her and wrapped her in a tight hug.

“Fuck you for making me worry so much,” Samara grumbled into Cali’s shoulder, where she was still tightly nestled.

The Furie’s leathery black wings stretched around Samara as if they could shield her from the world.

“Missed you too, bestie,” Cali murmured.

As Samara untangled herself, the Furie turned her glowing golden eyes on me, and I tensed at the death I saw in them. I guess that answered the question of whether or not Samara had told Cali about what had happened that night.

I gave her a lazy grin as if to say, “Gonna do something about it?”

Cali stared at me for a second, and I forced myself to remain calm and not reach for the sword strapped across my back. Not that it would do me a lot of good against Calpyso fucking Rayne.

The Furie was a few inches taller than Samara and had considerably more muscle, but she was still a fraction of my size. But size didn’t matter against someone who could wield shadow magic, was wickedly fast with a blade, and could shred your mind if she really cut loose.

Seconds ticked by before the Furie slowly blinked and the burning light in her eyes dimmed a little.

That told me two things. Cali wasn’t that far gone if she could rein in her fury so easily, and I would definitely have to watch my back around her from now on. Samara, Rynn, and Cali were as different as three people could be, but the one thing they all shared in common, besides their love for each other, was coldhearted pragmatism.

Death would come for me on silent wings someday, but not while I was still needed. For now.

“Whatever the wraiths are doing, they’ve moved much further into the temple,” Cali said, tossing the long braid of herhair back over her shoulder. The red color was so dark it looked black at night; only in the day could you make out its true deep red tones. “You should be fine to take the horses and leave them out front without alerting them to our presence.”

I looked up at the sun arcing across the sky. We still had at least four hours of daylight left, and there weren’t nearly as many creatures that called the badlands home the way they did the forests.

“Alright,” I agreed. “Lead the way.”

After one more pointed glare at me, Cali shot up into the sky. The horses startled at the sudden movement, but luckily—if not surprisingly—Alaric managed to keep his under control until Samara could reach him.

“You want to ride up front this time?” she asked.

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